Upgrading -- socket 754 & Nforce3 ??

[spwango]

Hey all,

I blew thru my second MSI K8T NEO-FSR mobo last week, so I'm back looking at socket 754 mobos to go with my 3000+ (asuming it survived--it did the first time, and I was able to test my video board (9800NP) and it is OK, so here's hoping). After having a couple of problems with MSI now, I'm looking to switch--

So my questions, are there any good mobo roundup articles that feature the NForce 3-250 chipset? It seems socket 754 fell out of favor about the time of the chipset's release, and I haven't been able to find much out about it. In particular, I'm considering going with the Epox EP-8KDA3J, as I have had decent luck with epox in the past, and the price is right (I'm just intending on running 512 Samsung PC2700 and 512 Corsair PC2700 in this board). Are there others I should look at? Would I be better off with a different VIA-based mobo?

Also, since this was a failure, I wasn't able to back up data. It's not crucial, but I would like to go save a few things. Will it be possible to boot into Window's long enough to backup that data before doing an OS rebuild if I cange mobo chipsets?

thanks for any info.

 

[o1die]

The epox board is a good choice for value. But I would first try a direct rma to msi. I swapped 4 boards with them, until they finally got tired of dealing with me, and they sent me a brand new board instead with a newer chipset. It was a major hassle, but I got a new board out of it. And if you don't want to wait for the replacement board, send it to me! I've been wanting to try athlon 64, but my p4 is overclocked so fast, it doesn't make sense to swap right now.

 

[spwango]

I'm likely not going to call MSI about it, as I don't believe the failure was entirely their fault--I don't have any of the original data for the board anyway.

 

[MrCodeDude]

The 8KDA3J is my pick for Socket 754 board if price is a factor.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

if price isn't too big a fact i would say go with the dfi lanparty UT, best overclocker for socket 754 and great stock performance, it looks cool too.

 

[Budman]

Chaintech VNF-250 is an other good choice for a tight budget.

 

[AxeMurderer]

I had a problem with the VNF-250 frying my AGP cards. (BFG 5700 ultra and XFX 6600gt) Just throwing that out there. I decided to spend a little more and upgraded to the DFI Lanparty and I will never look back.

 

[spwango]

Price is only a concern because I've blown up two of these things already...otherwise, I don't mind springing around $100 or so.

Overclocking isn't a huge concern either...the PC2700 should be a huge limiter to that, right?

 

[cyberknight]

I too got an MSI K8T Neo-FSR. The tech guy told me that he's seen this mobo come in the repair room quite a lot. Most of them dead. Good thing for me I got an RMA and exchanged it for the Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR. Very reliable board at a budget price. Not a great overclocker though. It also has questionable CPU temp readings, but not a huge deal since you probably won't be overclocking much and I assume you know how to put on a heatsink.

You really should consider using PC3200 RAM. But it's up to you. But yeah, PC2700 is gonna limit overclocking anyhow.

 

[spwango]

I'm actually surprised at how good the PC2700 has worked, at least with the MSI board. I'm sure it hits performance, but the bottom line is that the board has done everything I wanted it to do performance wise, so there hasn't been much incentive to upgrade to PC3200--if I ever run across a good deal, I might. I think I'd be served better using that money to upgrade the video board (I have a Radeon 9800 NP now)

 

[spwango]

I just noticed, I hadn't before, that the Epox 8KDA3J has the Nforce3-250b chipset for under $70--what't he difference then between this board and the 8KDA3+?? Only difference I see is raid?

Secondly, on the memory--if I do upgrade to say 512 of PC3200 (remember, I have 1G of PC2700 now)--is that going to beneficial? Is that memory going to be usefull in the future, or is it going to be deadend for upgrades like socket 754?

thanks.

 

[Christobevii3]

If you put sticks of double sided ram into the lower epox it won't go above ddr333 unless overclocked fsb...

 

[spwango]

Originally posted by: Christobevii3
If you put sticks of double sided ram into the lower epox it won't go above ddr333 unless overclocked fsb...

Thanks for the info...Did they cripple it or does that have something to do with the chipset?

 

[hundesau]

dont think christo is right on that point. the memory controller which is inside the cpu of all a64 cant handle more then 2 double sided rams without decreasing speeds, either it will downclock ram to 333mhz at commandrate t1 or it will stay at 400mhz but at commandrate t2 when u put more then two double sided modules of ram into a a64 board. u wont loose that much of speed with the lowered clockings but if u want a perfect system then better go for only two double sided modules or buy single sider from Corsair or MDT.

 

[sheltem]

Originally posted by: spwango
I just noticed, I hadn't before, that the Epox 8KDA3J has the Nforce3-250b chipset for under $70--what't he difference then between this board and the 8KDA3+?? Only difference I see is raid?

Secondly, on the memory--if I do upgrade to say 512 of PC3200 (remember, I have 1G of PC2700 now)--is that going to beneficial? Is that memory going to be usefull in the future, or is it going to be deadend for upgrades like socket 754?

thanks.

The + comes with a spare USB header and few other bonuses. Nothing significant though.

 

[spwango]

Originally posted by: hundesau
dont think christo is right on that point. the memory controller which is inside the cpu of all a64 cant handle more then 2 double sided rams without decreasing speeds, either it will downclock ram to 333mhz at commandrate t1 or it will stay at 400mhz but at commandrate t2 when u put more then two double sided modules of ram into a a64 board. u wont loose that much of speed with the lowered clockings but if u want a perfect system then better go for only two double sided modules or buy single sider from Corsair or MDT.

So, in the past, I haven't even considered doing any OCing, assuming my PC2700 would be a limiter. Is that true? I think I'd rather spend the money it would cost to upgrade the RAM buying a new case and/or PSU to ensure those aren't the source of my current problems, especially if it's likely i'm just going to end up buying new RAM for the next cycle anyway.

 

[customcoms]

The ram really won't be that limiting. You can use dividers, plus you don't even know how high it will go to begin w/. So you just have to try. I would reconmend getting the best psu you can afford (stable is better than higher watts) and putting as many fans in your current case as possible-I am getting a new Raidmax because it can handle a total of 8 fans, including two exaust (ones on top of the case, not rear, theirs 3 of those). But, a decent cpu cooler is better than more incorrectly placed case fans, and the one that comes stock can handle up to around 2.3-2.4, so it does a pretty good job.

Sam

 

[KGB]

Spwango,

FWIW, I recently got one of those Epox EP-8KDA3J boards paired with a Sempron 3100.
Everything went well but I can't wait til I gat a chance to o/c the system.

For the price, you can't beat it.

 

[FastEddie]

Wait a couple of weeks, ECS is releasing an NF4 board for A754.